The present invention relates to the field of data processing systems, and in particular to the allocation of data storage resources for use by host computers in data processing systems.
It has been known to provide for selective allocation of data storage resources for use by different host computers in data processing systems. As one example, a technique known as “LUN masking” has been used by which the physical storage capacity of a data storage device is divided into smaller sections referred to as “logical units” or LUNs. LUNs are assigned to different hosts by a storage system administrator having a control channel into the data storage device. When a host scans the data storage device for available LUNs, only those LUNs which have been assigned to the host are revealed as available for use by the host. The host subsequently builds internal representations of the assigned LUNs and generates storage requests (reads, writes) which are directed to the assigned LUNs.